Garment hanger



Oct. 21, 1952 c. B. WILLIAMS 2,614,735

. GARMENT HANGER Filed Sept. 29, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 INVENTOR. CAA/FfA/Cf B. MLL/AMS ,4 TTORNE Y5.

I Filed Sept. 29, 1950 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Oct; 1952 c. B. WILLIAMS I ,61

' GARMENT HANGER I INVENTOR. QflfiE/Vaf 5. ML L MMs HTTORNEKS.

leg portions.

Patented Oct. 21, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT HANGER Clarence B. Williams, Grass valleyrGalif. Application" September 29, 1950,'Serial No. 187,399

'5 Claims. (01, 2231-31) The invention relates to garment hangers and more particularly to a novel and useful combinaltion of a plurality of garment hangers for sup:- portin both coats and trousers.

. Objects and advantages of the invention will be :set forth .in part hereinafter and in part will :be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.

The ,inventionconsists in the novel'parts, constructions, arrangements, combinations and imrovementsherein shown and described. The accompanying drawin s. referred herein and constituting a part hereof, illustrate em- :bodiments ofthe invention, and together with :thedescription, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

f thev drawings:

Fig. 1 a side elevation of an embodiment of :the invention shownin use, supportinga pair of .showingithe joining action .of the bars .in the 'modification. of Fig. '5 and Fig. 9 is a fragmentary perspective ofaimodi- .fication showing a temporary interlocking of two :hanger hooks.

Many attempts have been madepto modify or adapt the transverse. bar of the conventional .wire coat-hanger so :that it will grip and support trousers .by :the cuffs or the ends of the However, such modifications have .eitherrequired.the'additionof extra parts which .detract from'the'normal'usefulness of the coat hanger, or they have required :the permanent interlocking of a pair of hangers :so as to render themno longer separately useful.

The presentinventionis directedto the utilization of a pair of wire garmenthangerswhich are completely useful as separate devices, but which arezdesigned and adapted to be used together in :removably interlocked relation 50 as to provide,

when so'interlocked, a combined coat and trousers hanger.

her of one han er is then loqselvinterl c By the. present invention conventional wire garment 'hangers, having the usual transverse bar, can he used in their normalmanner, as :by dry cleaning establishments, in hotel closets and the like. However, by means of'the invention, a

pair of such hangers can :be remova'bly connected or interlocked together to form a frictional griptrousers,so that the trousers. can hang-flee "thi their .cuif or :leg ends and thus pre erve creases. 'Byproviding a smal-Lsimple andnne I J'ectionable change in the transverse .bar of one or both hangers of :the pair they can .be; very readily interconnected and discomlsqtsquyo i" main wholly unimpaired iorserviceas ndi idual hangers.

In accordance with the invention. 112.13 zq Qi bar of a conventional wire hangermay haveisne or tworl ps or partial .loonstwisted Hit-0 the liable metal of the bar adja ent. the sender ends ther f. sogasto leave clear and straieht substan tially the total useful len th o said bar as a smooth. straight. arment unpsrtins member.

' the other, similar conventional wire jhfi. er of the p r t e us d may be tot lysuncha tw l ops areformed in blister Qithe Q ee in, the bar of the second hanger may be o p d adjacent the opposite en Qfi s:

the bar of the othe bymeans 34215 1 919095. and a resilient. trousereer pning Pe 19f :s aee hars thus provided.

er l d s r pt on and -th 1-to.1lo\v s ription as Well are xe nlaryzan but are not restrictive-of the invention Refe g no to t e p esent p efersed. s

'b d ments of the n en ion shown "b wa of e ample inthe accompanyin -dr i gs,;aeia ssmr l i with the terminal portion l-2 ofthewire-piece Below twisted shank H, the hanger fermen as a yoke with two short horizontal bars t3 and M inclined downwardly and outwardly to form the sloping shoulder pieces 15 and I5, shoulder pieces turn-inwardly at their lowe to form-the transverse rod 1'! whichjoins hanger without the loops. unimportant difference which does not affect the together and forms a conventional bar on which trousers, skirts or other garments may be draped. The second hanger 2 is of identical construction and thereon the parts are correspondingly numbered in the s. That is, hook 26 is the same as hook iii, twisted shank H is the same as shank l I and so on.

In accordance with the invention, the transverse bar 2'! of the second hanger is provided with twisted loops 3% and 3| which are bent into the wire forming the bar at distances spaced as closely as possible to the ends of the transverse bar where it turns to form the sloping shoulder pieces and 26. As will be clear from the drawing, these loops form a complete circle above the line of the rod 21 with the bottom part of the loop being spread lengthwise of the rod so as to provide opening 32 at the bottom of the loop. These openings are sufilciently wide to permit the rod 11 of the other hanger to pass easily there- -through. When so passed by the movements indicated in Fig. 3, the two hangers are loosely connected together and may be turned to form the unit as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. When so turned into the vertical matching position as shown, the two bars I? and 21 form together a pair of opposed, resiliently-separable, garmentgripping clamp elements. Thus the cuffs or ends of a pair of trousers T may be placed and gripped between them, the inherent resiliency of the wires of the hangers tending to tighten the grip while the hooks of the pair of hangers are hung as a unit over a rod or the like in the position shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. However, the two hangers may be very readily separated to release the trousers. By rocking them or turning them apart, to a 180 position (shown in Fig. 5 with a modification),

the rod I? of the hanger may be readily withdrawn from the open bottoms of the loops 3!) and 3|. When this is done the two separate hangers l and 2 may again be used as individual complete garment hangers in the conventional way. 7 It will be noted that the spacing apart of the two loops and 3| is such that substantially t .e

entire length of the bar 2? is left clear and smooth in its original form. Thus it can serve as an individual separate hanger just as though the loops had never been formed therein. It will also be observed that the forming of the loops in the bar 21 tends to draw in the curved corners 2i and 29 of the hanger 2, making the distance between said corners a little shorter than it is in the This, however, is an utility of the hanger 2 as a separate individual hanger.

Referring now to the modification shown in Fig. 5, the invention is not limited to forming both loops or all the loops in the transverse bar of one of the pair of hangers. Fig. 5 shows a form in which one loop is formed in one bar and the second loop formed in the other bar. The parts in Fig 5 which are identical with those in the form of Figs. 1 to e are numbered the same,

but the bar of hanger i is numbered 3? and the method illustrated in Fig. 8, whereby a lateral motion and slight twisting and the two loops are brought together and then the bars slid along each other to bring the two hangers into the position shown in Fig. 5. Having thus interconnected the rods of the two hangers, the hooks may be rotated to bring them together in the upright position, that is, similar to the position shown in Fig. 1.

The invention also contemplates a provision of means for releasably locking the hooks l0 and 2B of the pair of hangers in the closed position shown in Fig. 1. Such means may be provided in a variety of ways and Fig. 9 shows a simple adaptation for that purpose wherein the twisted shank 2! of hanger 2 is formed. with its terminal portion 22 bent out to form a relatively wide horizontally disposed hook I20. Said hook is thus positioned to embrace the shanks of both hooks l6 and 29 just above the twisted portions thereof when the two hangers are brought together in the position of Fig. 1. This relatively loose hook engagement holds the two hangers more tightly together when they are in the interlocked posi-- tion, but disengagement thereof may be readily effected by sliding the hangers a short distance laterally with respect to each other.

In lieu of forming the hook I20 as shown, a similar temporary interlocking of the hooks l0 and 26 may be effected by twisting the ends of said hooks so that they overlap and interlock. If desired a smal1 ring or coil of wire or other metal can be provided to slip overthe two hooks I0 and 23 and temporarily hold them together. Other similar simple means can alternatively be provided for holding the tops of the two hangers from separating, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that other forms of loops may be provided for releasably connecting two hanger rods together for the purposes and in accordance with the principles of the invention and that the invention is not limited to the two forms herein illustratively shown.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific mechanisms shown and described but departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the accompanying claims without departing from the principles of the inention and without sacrificin its chief advanages.

What is claimed is:

l. A garment hanger having divergent sloping portions and a transverse portion, said garment hanger including two triangular frames in adjacent relation to each other, each of said frames having divergent sloping shoulder-supporting members forming the sloping portions of said hanger and a transverse bar forming the transverse portion of said hanger, said triangular frames being in releasable engagement with each other by means of loop members on said transverse portion adjacent its ends thereof, each of said loop members being integral with 'one of said transverse bars of said transverse portion and engaging an adjacent transverse bar of said transverse portion to form a pair of resiliently separable garment engaging elements, said frames being capable of independent use as conventional garment hangers when disengaged.

2. A hanger in accordance with claim 1, wherein one of said loops is formed in the bar of one frame and another loop is formed in the bar of the other frame.

3. A hanger in accordance with claim 1, wherein both said loops are formed in the bar of one of said frames and are positioned adjacent the ends thereof.

4. A garment hanger including in combination, a triangular frame formed of a continuous piece of resilient wire and having divergent sloping resiliently separable garment gripping elements, said frames being capable of independent use as conventional garment hangers when disengaged.

5. A garment hanger as defined in claim 4 which includes means for releasably locking the hooks of said triangular frames.

CLARENCE B. WILLIAMS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,847,056 Frenkler Feb. 23, 1932 2,187,579 Von Knopke Jan. 16, 1940 

